Addressing Emotional Wellness During the COVID-19 Pandemic: the Role of Promotores in Delivering Integrated Mental Health Care and Social Services

PEER REVIEWED

The figure consists of an isosceles triangle with a map cut-out inside it showing the location of Orange County. The title, Latino Health Access’s Bienestar Emocional, is superimposed over the map. The programs 3 initiatives are positioned on each of the 3 points of the triangle. A box at the top point is labeled “upstream initiatives to address root causes.” Attached below the box are two bubbles, 1 labeled “community building and advocacy,” and the other labeled “leadership development.” A box on the left point of the triangle is labeled “narrative therapy-based mental health services.” Three bubbles are attached to this box, the first labeled “one-on-one sessions,” the second, “peer support,”, and the third, “group sessions.” A box on the third point is labeled “addressing urgent social needs.” Four bubbles are attached to this box. The first reads “financial assistance and food bank”; the second, “addressing barriers to service use”; the third, “referrals to legal, social, and health services”; and the fourth, “education.” Below the triangle diagram is a horizontal timeline marked with the following dated events: March 17, 2020: eviction moratorium via N-28-20 executive order; March 19, 2020: $1.6 million for emergency rent relief via CARES Act; March 24, 2020: emergency ordinance issuing eviction moratorium for residential and commercial units; April 7, 2020: executive order prohibiting rental increase while N-28-20 is active; May 5, 2020: City Council allocates $3 million in rental assistance; August 5, 2020: City Council approves $28.6 million COVID-19 relief (via CARES Act). Includes rental assistance, childcare, testing, community resources; September 30, 2020: emergency assistance approved.

Figure 1.
Framework for Latino Health Access’s Bienestar Emocional (Emotional Wellness) program describing its 3 primary initiatives, their components, and the associated timeline of related events. The program is based in Orange County, California. Abbreviations: CARES, Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act; N-20-28, executive order issued by Governor Newsom of California that allows local governments to impose temporary limitations on residential and commercial evictions under COVID-19-related financial distress.

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Figure 2.
Service use among Latino Health Access’s Emotional Wellness participants, showing trends in volume of services and participants during 10 months (March 2019–June 2020). The ratio of services to participants increased from an average of 4.0 in the pre-COVID-19 period to an average of 4.3 in the COVID-19 period (P= .54). Significance was assessed by using an independent t test.

Service use among Latino Health Access’s Emotional Wellness participants, showing trends in volume of services and participants during 10 months (March 2019–June 2020). The ratio of services to participants increased from an average of 4.0 in the pre-COVID-19 period to an average of 4.3 in the COVID-19 period (P = .54). Significance was assessed by using an independent t test.

Service Use	2019				2020						Prepandemic vs Pandemic,PValue
	March	April	May	June	January	February	March	April	May	June
Volume of services	201	508	434	419	200	251	890	1,596	1,652	1,375	.54
Volume of participants	59	106	101	93	56	75	260	400	381	256

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